Iris has started to bloom.
May/June flowers
Lilac, Miss Kim.
Small bed street side of fence. Lilac Miss Kim is in the center.
Coreopsis adds a splash of yellow.
This is so frustrating, second time this week it's happened - send my post and it's lost! I learned my lesson the other day and copied before hitting send but then forgot I had copied a link afterward :( Let's try again...
hart, I wasn't sure I was going to like Rubidor when I first planted it - red flowers with gold foliage? But now I love it! I still have two more Weigela to add to the border but now that the others have gotten so big I'm running out of room!
Jen, very pretty - do you know which Spiderwort that is?
Chris, love the "flash" of Mary Chris! LOL That Iris is beautiful, do you know the name? I'm making a list of "wants" and that one needs to go on the list! Maybe Stormyla needs one too, to go with her new 'candy apple red' Bistro set :)
Terri!!!! Where have you been hiding? I haven't been posting a lot, mostly lurking, and I haven't seen much of you since we met in Richmond! Your Mountain Laurel is gorgeous! I'm seeing the same thing around here - it's been a long time since I've seen so many blooms and everything is so lush! No doubt all the glorious rain Mother Nature has been treating us with this spring is making everything very happy but I think the cooler temperatures are helping as well. Usually the heat kicks in and the flowers are blasted but everything seems to be hanging on much longer this spring. My Geraniums haven't looked this good in a long, long time :)
That's a beautiful combo RCN. Is that Geranium a "scrambler"? Or did you plant several there? I have some lovely "Johnson's Blue" from Ladygardener to plant.
Lady, I love Dianthus. Never realized until this year how fragrant they are. That Iris is gorgeous.
Aspenhill, that Mrs. Finch is just beautiful and really does show off your fence nicely.
Jen, I love your Chive blooms!
RCN, Your yellow azalea and that austin rose are very beautiful. I like your "Tulip" tree just the way it is! That really hurts when you spend so much money for a "Must have" item and then are disappointed. The Kaliediscope and Spotty Dotties are magnificent. I broke down and splurged last year for 2 Double Bloodroot and neither one materialized. Sure does burn one up.
Think I'll post most of the Iris before they disappear. Don't have all of their names.
This is a short one. I've had this for several years and they have expanded nicely except I think the voles ate some near this end of the clump.
This is "Vivid Look"
A better photo.
This may be "Pennelatta". Can't find a photo of that one anywhere.
"Country Morn" or is it "Country Dawn"?
Unknown name but lovely rebloomer.
Another Beauty.
Big Apple
This was a mix up in the co-op. I did not order this, but am certainly glad to have it.
El Cerrito?
No clue about this lovely.
Some Dutch Iris
Look, it's Siamese Twins!
Speaking Freely
Thar she Blue
Another lovely NOID
Ladygardener and Stormy, I love the iris photos - so colorful. How do you have them in the landscape - are they massed in an iris bed, or do you have them amongst other plants? I wish I had a little more sun to work with!
Debbie, for the last few weeks, I've been spending almost all my free time once I'm home from work outside - either working on my new vegetable garden or on the hillside shade garden. It has been a lot of physical work - especially with the amount of soil and compost I've been adding. When I finally come in the house, I'm covered in dirt, usually soaked from the rain, and exhausted - but happy as can be LOL. At that point, I just soak in a hot bath and fall asleep. I started catching up on DG threads after the holiday weekend - so much I've been missing!!! I've got a few pictures of my vegetable garden on the thread that Ladygardener started. Last evening, I went out in the rain to try to get some shots of the hillside shade garden where I planted all the things I got at the sale in Richmond. It is starting to look really good, but the pictures just don't seem to do it justice.
Everyone's blooms are looking great! terri
RCN: I love your posts, and love your driveway! We switched to Foxfire from Explorer and are much happier - one reason being that we no longer lose drafts.
The Knockout doubles I planted a year ago are about in full splendor. this pic was made about 5 days ago.
The pink in the center is a single...
This message was edited May 29, 2009 8:57 AM
This is a Knockout single I got from my sister-in-law. I didn't know if the transplanting would be a success but here it is a year later.
Aspenhill, I do not have any Iris beds. Mine are mixed among other plants. It's not so much a matter of preference for me as it is a survival test for the plants. I do try to group them together in spots. I had Iris planted between all of my trees in my roadside bed, but the voles ate half of them.
Don't be so concerned about the shade. 80% of my planting area is varying degrees of shade and the Iris do fine. The top growers on the Iris forum have told me that all types of Iris will perform well in shade. If you look closely at my photos you will see the different degrees of shade. Black Walnut, Alianthus and Maples don't seem to daunt them either. Iris foliage is very attractive, so they lend beauty to the beds even when not in bloom.
Linuxogre, your Knockout roses are beautiful. Are these planted right above your creeping phlox? If you're happy with them after 1 year, wait until the 3rd year. It's amazing how well they grow. They certainly are a shady garden rose lover's delight! I find that they require only an occasional spraying for aphids and rarely get black spot. Can't say the same for my other roses.
Stormy, that is so good to know. I love iris, but have been really limiting my plants because of my lack of sunny areas. I'll go ahead and start planting in some of the beds that are filtered/partial shade vs deep shade, and see how they do. If I can get blooms for that spectacular color spectrum, it will add so much to the garden!
Aspenhill, with the shade, I just try one or two of a plant and see how they do. If they prosper then I plant more. Many plants will do well in shade, but they sometimes won't get as tall or maybe not have as many blooms. The Iris multiply quite well in shade.
On another forum someone was going on about how stupid their former property owner was in planting Peonies in shade. I have a dozen peonies just loving the shade and am adding a dozen more. I have several different roses in my shade beds and this year the blooms are spectacular.
All of the lilies other than daylilies will do well in shade. Daylilies will do fine in a light pocket in the shade or if they get 6 hours of sun. A helpful thing to do is to photograph your beds at different times of the day. Study the photos to see where the light pockets are. Then you can mix sun perennials in your shade bed.
Also, don't believe everything you read. Every color of crocosmia does well in my shade beds. They are always listed as full sun.
Stormy, My sister-in-law suggested knockouts as being particularly disease resistant and so far it has worked. I had to chase the aphids away a couple of times last year but they haven't been much of a problem this year (so far). When I lived in New Mexico I had a large rose garden with about fifty named varieties and disease wasn't much of a problem. I had to build a sun screen for them and run off the occasional gopher but for the most part they did well. With the humidity here it is a different ball game and I haven't really tried some of the hybrid teas and heirlooms I had there.
The photo is from some years ago but shows the rose garden after its first year. Still small at this stage but I think you can see a David Austin yellow rose in the corner. I'd have to dig out my old records to tell you the exact variety.
This message was edited May 29, 2009 1:59 PM
This is from the opposite end showing the planting bench as well.
That's beautiful, Linuxogre. My friend in LA has spectacular rose gardens, even at her office. They do grow so amazingly well in dry climates. The pergola is really nice and the incorporation of the potting bench is ingenious and attractive.
I do find that seeing the spectacular rose blooms against the backdrop of our east coast lush foliage is well worth the extra effort they require. My latest project will involve some climbing roses another test run!
Oh, how I would love a planting bench like that! I've been potting things up on our porch patio floor.
Aspen, I meant to say I LOVE native mountain laurels. I've been on a search for them around here for years and no one sells them. Recently, I was told by a garden center owner that they cracked down on sales of it a long time ago because enterprising people were digging them up from the pine barons and selling them to the garden centers. I don't know how true that is -- in any case, native mtn. laurel is hard to come by around here unless they grow wild in your back yard. I just passed a nice patch in Medford, NJ a few days ago in full bloom and gorgeous too.
this jasmine is relatively new for us and turns out to be hardy in zone 6b ~ Jasminum x stephanese ~ small pink blooms and fragrant
Wind, the Mountain Laurel is our state flower. You can buy the natives in some of the nurseries in the Poconos. I'll try to see if I can find a source for you. Is your DH handy? Potting benches are easy to build. You should have one in or near your new greenhouse. If not, there are lots for sale for about $250 on the internet. Might ask family members for a group birthday or christmas gift. There are usually some nice ones for sale on Ebay. Ask everyone for Ebay gift certificates.
That Jasmine is very nice. I recently ordered this one:http://www.gardenvines.com/shop/jasmines-8/gelsemium-sempervirens-margarita-249.html
Aspen, I've noticed the native mountain laurels here are blooming more and longer this year. They're still blooming and usually long gone by now.
Chris, that is the reddest red iris I've ever seen! Which one is it, do you know?
Stormy, your iris are gorgeous. Okay, here's some more photos.
A much better photo of Angel Face. It has a heavenly scent too.
Angelina sedum with the catmint I got at the swap three years ago. It's still going strong.
The climbing roses, New Dawn and the old moss rose. Austin rose Tamora is at the bottom, the peachy looking one.
I got these Nonstop begonias at Macs Greenhouse in Woodstock - four plants for $3. The darker one is Nonstop Mocca. Aren't the leaves pretty?
The knautia has been spectacular this year. It's been blooming for weeks.
